Power of Fury, Tears of Sorrow

[Sion Reaver]

(This is the actual story, the other thing was information. Anyway go ahead and read if wish.)

Prolgue: Afraid of the Dark


They say in life, right before you die your entire life flashe's before your eyes. Its also true when your born you see a light, but one of a diffrent kind. Often times when one person is truly born that light is the first glimpse of life and the person that gave it to them: their creator. In other cases though, its possible for someone to be "Reborn" again even young teenagers or older people. Its when they realize whats really going on, the things they failed to notice finally show their uglyness. Things that were once acceptable now disgust them. Its these moments the person see's another light. One of change.

When this happends, the person seeing this new light only has three options that present themselves. One to change their ways and follow the new path. This might possibly be the safest way to go, buts its also the most scary. Its unknown, beings fear the unknown. I guess thats why their scared of the dark. But once you expereince it, you realize that really the dark isn't so bad. I often wondered why people feared the dark, when I realized with a tinge of irony I myself once feared it.

It seems I've gotten off track, so I will continue. The second opition is the most easy: simply go on the same tired path even if it means destroying one's self mentally, phyiscally, or both. The last and third choice comes after choosing to take another route in their life. Do they perish along the way? Or do they succeed?

Its often the first.

I'm what one calls a realist. I don't like sugar-coating things neither do I give into hope when its obviously every plan has failed, every option exhausted, and everything else falling apart. I know when to quit-when to cut back and save myself and cut back on my losses. I should say I used to atleast. Its funny..Even though I know I will die soon by the hands of my former comrades I don't regret anything. If given the same choice, I would have done it again and again. I used to be part of a group called The Cluster, we have one and one objective only. To to get rid of the Gods that did this to me, us. A world were people will truly be free, one with out some corrupt deity pulling the strings like a puppet show.

It started off a noble cause, to get revenge on the Gods that did this to us and get rid of them so people could truly be free. Our trump card was that of a recarnated child name Alice, we were supposed to revatlize her other half and make her what she once was..But lets just say I had a change of interest. I was assigned to look after her, but I couldn't interfer directly with her normal life. During this time I probably grew a bit to attached I think. I began to realize that my friend and leader of The Cluster had begun the very thing he hated-a controlling being that used others as stepping stones.

It saddened me to think that the man who had saved me, nursed me back to health emotionally and phyiscally, and gave me hope turned into a monster. The desire for revenge is a powerful emotion, maybe almost as strong as love. As they say, theirs a thin line between love and hate.

My name is Korz The Souless. Its not my real name. I don't either my first or last name anymore. It does nothing but bond myself to my painful past best left burried. Anyway, I'm sure already are looking at this and judging but please try to listen. Listen to my-our story and then you may judge to see if me and Alice are truly as bad as you may think. Its in most races nature to judge anyway. Are you afraid of the dark? If not, then sit down and listen to our story...

[Sion Reaver]

Chapter One: One way in, one way out

To say Greg Summers was nervous would be a light understatement. It was the big day, the one that would supposedly change his life for the better. Normally, a young man like himself would be happy to be a new father. If it weren't for the fact their was something terribly wrong. A long time ago, he had wanted to start a business but was having problems getting it off the ground. He was about to close up shop pernamently and go back home. Greg had part his whole heart and soul into his own private business, including all of his funds. The young man would have return home to his parents, broke and ashamed at himself since they themselves had lended him some money when they were struggling themselves. He would have to, if a man known as Hammer hadn't showed up. If he knew what kind of price he'd had to pay, he would have refused the deal.

Right off the back Greg had gotten bad vibes from the guy, his first clue was the fact that Hammer defiantly wasn't his real name. However, all he had to do was turn over part of the business profit to him and Snake would give him the funds to open back up. Unfourtnately, it flopped once again and he slowly began to get more and more in debt with Snake until it amounted to something he couldn't pay even in a few years. Greg had almost been killed a few times afterwards, Snake was apart a hidden crime organization and he didn't like being cheated out as he called it. Somehow however, Greg managed to evade them for a while, constantly moving, changing his look-anything to get them off his back. It was only a matter of time before they caught up, only a matter of time before he slipped and made a mistake.

He dreaded telling his beautiful wife the real reason he did some of the things he did, but he had a feeling she knew. His wife was anything but stupid. But if she knew, why did she bother staying with him all this time? Then to his guilt and shame, he knew the answer. His wife Jennifer loved him, and wasn't going to leave him despite the danger to herself. He sighed, as Greg sat down in a waiting chair in a hospital with his plain black shirt and jeans. His hand felt numb, curtesy of his wife trying to break his hand when he tried to comfort her in labor. That was another lesson he learned today, holding your wifes hand while in labor was not a good idea, it seemed to give them super human strength.

"Whats taking them so long?" It seemed like forever since he last saw her it seemed like an eternity. Time truly did go slower if you were worried about someone. It was the opposite of time going fast when you were having fun. Greg was Not having fun. The noises of the hospital annoyed him, making him irritable. The sounds of babies crying, doctors frantically rushing back and forth. People going in and out. Just how did anything get done around here? He thought bitterly. Normally Greg was a mild-mannered patient person but not in this scenario. If you were in pain, it was truly hard to be patient. Whether it was emotion or phyiscal, it was hard to wait.

"Mr. Summers?"

Greg was about to snap at who ever it was when he realized it was just a nurse probably going to tell him about his wife and the baby. He felt ashamed of himself, but only for a minute. In this particular moment, his mind was one-tracked and he had little time for anything else. "Yes, thats me. Are you here to tell me about my wife and child?" He asked hopefully anxious, trying to keep from sounding to excited.

The nurse wore a gentle smile. "Exactly Mr. Summers. I'm happy to report both your wife and child are in good health. If you follow me, I will take you to them."

He was up the instant the words 'child' and 'wife' were included in the same sentence and silently followed the nurse. Greg didn't say anything verbally but way his eyes shown and body langauge was a clear sign of the mood he was in. At this the nurse noticed but tried not to laugh, she didn't really see that kind of behavoir anymore, it was quite cute in her opinion. Nobody got in their way as they headed towards the delivery room, but on the trek odd things were seen. One was a guy, probably around twenty or so in a diaper running away from a doctor who tripped in his chase to run after him. It was a comical scene that didn't do justice to the hospitals usual gloomy depressive atomosphere. But laughter was said to be at times the best medecine, so maybe that little slip up would do some good in the long run, Greg hoped so anyway.

At that moment, he almost forgot for a moment he was following a nurse but quickly got refocused. No use in being side-tracked he mused. After the little accident with that man in diapers, their was nothing remotely interesting as they went down a hallway. Except for the usual. People walking back and forth, doctors talking to one another on breif lunch breaks. The noise's began to bother him again and once again he remembered one of the reasons he depised hospitals. In general Greg had a distrust towards doctors and hospitals in general. One time, his uncle had blood pratically coming out of his head and they wouldn't touch him because of insurance. No, what kind of coverage do you got? We'll worry about your ailments later. Those were around the lines of what the doctor had said, that expereince was just one of many that shaped his outlook on doctors and their lot.

Times changed as did people, he was no exception to that rule. A year back even and he might have held some grudges agaisnt doctors still, but after the fact set in that his wife and child were safe and in good hands came into effect, his old views were voided. His uncle would have rolled in his grave at the thought of trusting doctors again. But could he really hold anything agaisnt them now that they helped his own small family? No. Greg really didn't think so anymore.

"We're here Mr. Summers, go ahead and meet your new daughter. Your wife is waitng to."

Once again, he was snapped out of his thought-process which brought him back to the present. A new reality he was steadily starting to like more and more. Greg watched the nurse open the door for him which he went through almost immediatly after, the door gently being shut behind him. In the small room were the baby had been delivered was his wife, with her dark brown hair and black eyes. She was in a hospital gown of course, but to him despite her tired apperance to him she would always be the most beautiful woman he'd ever layed eyes on. A small form was wrapped around neatly in a town, it was obvious that was their baby.

"How are you feeling?" Greg said and managed a small smile before taking a chair to sit down by both of his loved ones. "I was a bit worried about you, the doctors said it would take a certain amount of time but you guys stayed their longer then expected. So I kinda paniced. Can I see our little one?"

"I'm fine..Just a bit tired thats all don't worry. And of course you can see her." Using the small amount of strength she had retained, Jennifer gently handed the bundled form of the child to him. The child was small, but that was to be expected since she was a new-born after all. What set her apart were her strange hair and eye color. Greg couldn't think of any child with natural purple-like hair, he had never heard of such a thing. He was unable to see her eye color because she was sleep peacefully with her eyes hidden due to them being closed.

"She's really pretty..." Greg said studying his new-born daughter tenderly allowing a small smile before kissing his daughter on the forhead gently. In response, she only turned slightly and sneezed but didn't wake up. She like her father, liked her sleep. He thought it was cute and it touched his heart a little so he laughed before looking at his wife wondering how he had gotten so lucky. His wife was so beautiful, she could have been a model in a magazine if she wanted to. And yet here was he, a person they likely wouldn't have even allowed in front of a cereal box. Now he was being blessed with a small new-born daughter. That didn't happen to everybody, and he considered himself very fourtnate on somethings.

"Have you thought of any names? I'm no good with girl names." It was true. Greg would have better luck figuring out the cure for Cancer and AID's before he came up with a half-decent girl name. The only thing female in his life he had named were a few dogs and other pets that were long dead. It would be many times better for Jennifer to come up with a name. The last thing he wanted to do was give a child of his a bad name that would be stuck with the rest of their lives unless they got it changed when they were older.

"I was thinking on calling her Alice. Its common name but I think it fits her. Alice Summers." To Greg, the name sounded simple after hearing what his wife had in min for a name. Simple. That was the charm of the name. Common enough to be easy to remember, but not plain enough to be completely forgettable either. For the first time since the new father arrived, Alice slowly opened her tiny eyes. It was looking looking at a mirror or being in some sort of wonderful trance. Her eyes were a strange ruby color that seemed to glow lightly. Alice blinked once looking at her father straight in the eye, took a longful of breath, and cried loudly. Alice had a good healthy set of lungs, atleast she was in good health.

"Ah what did I do?" Greg tried to calm her down but didn't really have any success. With a defeated sigh, he handed Alice back to her mother. Like magic, the small child almost instantly calmed down and relaxed going back to being quite. Her small eyes darted around the room, seeing things for the first time but not really knowing what they were. She was a bit curious of these unexplainable objects and these strange big people, which all babies were until they grew a true understanding of the world and how it works.

[Sion Reaver]

Jennifer hummed something softly to Alice, who by this point focused her small-mind on anything she could touch, in this case her mothers hair. She grabbed a small strand of her black locks but it loosened and she fell back alseep. "Its all right. She'll get used to you. Usually babies are more comfortable with their mothers at first anyway."

"Since when were you the expert on babies? Not to long ago you wer-Jennifer?" He stopped in mid-sentence growing concerned. His wife seemed to be alive, but not moving, neither was Alice. It was like they were frozen in a picture. "Jennifer?" Greg touched her feeling his mates warm body, what was going on? He frowned to himself and went open the door only to find the whole hospital was in the same exact state. Everyone was frozen as if they were living in a picture. Doctors stood talking to one another, people were stuck in place on what ever it was they were last doing. On the counter their was a pitcher of water which had fallen over, the water was stuck in the air, almost touching the ground as if frozen.

With a strange shudder, he closed the door quickly going back in. It was like he had stepped into the Twlight Zone, this kind of thing didn't happen in real life, did it?

"No my friend, if only that were true. I'm afraid this is an all to common thing, ever wonder why theirs so many 'crazy' people in this world?"

Greg whipped around so quick, he almost made his neck hurt. In the dark corner of the room stood a very strange man. His body was completely covered in a Ninja-like garb, his body completely concealed in black except for his eyes. Dull blue eyes that seemed to be full of wisdom but full of pain as well. Most of all those eyes seemed to be almost dead, as if they had no soul left in them. "Who are you?! Are you the one responsible for this?! If you are so help me I'l-"

The intruder waved off the threat, at the same time Greg's mouth had literally lost his voice. This surprised him, as no matter how hard he screamed, he couldn't make it hearbale. He could only glare at him now. "My real name is of no importance. Call me Korz The Souless if want to call me anything. I'm going to give you your voice back. Are you going to be a good little boy Greg and let me explain?" Korz said in a calm patient tone.

He only nodded, but that seemed be good enough for Korz as Greg suddenly got his voice back he rubbed his neck as if expecting it to be sore. It was strange Korz hadn't made any movements this time to nullify what ever it was he did. He was about to ask when something else interrupted him or rather someone.

"Naw I did that silly!" He looked around the room for owner of the new voice and found a strange blue mist form before it slowly solidified forming a young woman. She was very attractive wearing completely dark clothes, a small hood which was pulled back so her face was visible. She had dark blue hair and the same colored eyes, what was a bit strange about her apperance was the very small crystal on her forhead, it didn't off set her apperance much but it was still odd. Unlike her other companion she was smiling and alot more cheery then the gloomy warrior in the corner. To complete her look, she had a pair of dark gloves which hid her hands.

"Stop that!" Korz hissed irritated. "We only have a limited time before your spell wears off. Remember were on a time limit Tammy."

The blue-haired woman that appeared moments ago shrugged carelessly. "You worry to much Korz. Relax, you'll live longer."

It looked like he was going to say something further when Greg suddenly regained his wits enough to speak again. "I'm still waiting for an explanation. How do you know my name?"

"Right. I apologize." Korz gave Tammy a look. "This is my partner named Tammy more or less. I know your name because we're supposed to look after that daughter of yours. We do a bit of research on our charges." Seeing Greg's alarmed look he continued. "Relax. We're not here to hurt her or anyone. If thats what we wanted to do, you would have been dead a long time ago. We're here simply because their will be things after your daughter, things normal humans can't possibly deal with."

"Whats so special about my daughter? Who do you work for?" He was still tense, expecting some sort of backstabbing to occur any moment.

"Oh. Thats easy." Tammy said with a complete serious look on her usual carefree face. Greg turned to her expectantly. "Its because she was born here."

Greg felt like strangling the woman at the spot, if it weren't for the fact she could kill him easily if she so inclined. What the hell was that supposed? Many children were born here and he doubed they were getting this kind of special treatment. Tammy didn't look like it, and she certaintly didn't act like it but she was very wise. If he knew some of the back story, he would have known that she was actually giving him a hint with out actually telling him the whole story. If only he knew..

Korz gave her a look. "Enough of that Tammy. I'm sorry I can't say..and it won't matter soon." He said somewhat cryptically. "I can't tell you who I'm working for its agaisnt the code. But I will say that we hold your daughters best interest at heart. We have to go now. A word of freidnly advice though, I suggest you move. Your enemies are closer on your heels then ever before after your blood. Watch your back." Korz's form became more and more transparent before vanishing completely.

"Bye!" Tammy waved for a moment before her body turned into the same strange mist before disspearing just like her partner. And just like that, everything turned back to normal. People began moving again, a pitcher crashed and broke as it hit the floor by the desk area, a doctor slipped on the water. The flow of time went back to its natural state, or perhaps it was all in his head?

"Greg? Greg?" He snapped back to the present as his eyes met the worried ones of his wife with their sleeping daughter.

"Sorry I'm fine." Greg snapped out of his thoughts shaking his head. "I guess I kind of zoned out for a minute. You didn't see two people that-" He shook his head once more. "Never mind. Forget it. You two are whats important now." He gently hugged his wife for a moment, careful not to wake Alice back up from her peaceful slumber. Still, what was that? Was he loosing his mind? If..If it had really happened, maybe he should take the man's advice and move. The last thing he needed was to put his family at risk. "No everything is fine. Alice sounds like a good name. A really good name."

Though he couldn't be seen, the same two people were watching still in the same room. The Souless seemed to watch impassively, nobody could really tell what he was thinking or what was going through his head. "You'll neve know how much I envy you. You never know what you had until its gone.."

His female companion put a comforting hand on Korz's shoulder completely serious. "We should go." She said softly. "Were done here."

"Yes. We are done here." With that, the two completely vanished this time around leaving the small family alone in peace. A peace they would enjoy, for a time.


(End chapter one)

[Sion Reaver]

Chapter Two: Behind Clouded Eyes

If someone were to say Korz The Souless was impatient, they would be wrong. He was not an impatient man, not anymore anyway. In his long dead past, he would have been pacing back and forth wondering when it would be his time. Knowing the things he knew now and experencing the things he did, impatience was not only a part of his past-it was fool heartedily. Young soldeirs rushed into battle with that thirst to speed things along, only to met a quick bitter end or know what real battle is truly all about. Older more expereinced warriors, knew the art of waiting. They knew when the brash young battled among one another, they would be able to collect the spoils from the weakened forces.

Korz was what you called a old warrior, he wasn't impatient by any means.

He was in a completely dark room, dark enough to were one couldn't see their hand in front of their face. Yet, he could see completely clearly as if it were in the middle of a hot summers day. The black Ninja-garb he always wore worked like a stealth cloak in the darkness, nothing would go on with out his notice or his knowing-his room anyway. In times like these, he would usually meditate on his only furniture his bed but not now. Korz slowly moved his hand in front his face, still fascinated that he could see so clearly in the dark even after all this time. This darkness once scared and immobolized him, now it strengthened and moved him. "Once you expereince the dark, you realize its nothing. Just another part of life. Maybe because darkness and death are closely linked to one another.."

The warrior went over by his bed, on it was a picture which he picked up. Nothing was out of the ordinary about it-just a photo of a young woman in her twenties, along with a small child. A handsome young man had his arms linked around both of them, they all seemed to be happy. Korz stared at the picture for the longest time, as if some sort of trance. "I wonder what they would think of me now.." Then, with a bitter self-mocking laugh he shook his head. "Doesn't matter anymore. Its behind me and I intend to keep it that way." Korz gently put the picture back, his head turning on hearing the door opening with out as much as a knock. More out of reflex then anything else, literally jumped onto the ceiling like a spider, disspearing in the dark corners of the room.

Like a predator, he stood unmoving from his spot wondering who it was but already subconciously knowing. In The Cluster, only the foolish barged into his room with out knocking, that or those very close to him. Korz regonized who it was, but just wanted to see if they were still on top of their game. The figure was that was inside his room was unmistakebaly female. However, the blue-hair, eyes, and the very small crystal on her forhead completely gave away her identity. It was that and her dark clothing with the hood, along with the gloves which he had never seen her take off. His body was actually tense, despite his external apperance of calmness. With out warning, he suddenly leaped at her, a small hidden dagger hidden.

His opponent seemed to be able to see in the darkness as well, as she easily evaded his flurry of strikes or blocked them one handed. Korz brought his dagger vertical along side her, but she simply grabbed his arm. His strength alone was enough to were he could get thrown through a concrete building, dust himself off, and keep on going. Despite this he couldn't move. It wasn't visible due to all of his features being covered except for his eyes but one could be sure he was likely smiling(Okay smirking.). "Hmm, seems your still as good as ever. I sometimes forget despite the way you act, your still a good fighter Tammy."

Gently, she released his arm putting her hands on her hips. "You know better then that by now. Come on. I know like your alone time but we have to go. Marbus TheWise wants to talk to us right now. Its important-I think it has to do with our charge we have to look after and monitor."

"That so? Then lets go." Once again, he was back to being Korz The Souless. A person who people said to have no real emotion, just a soldier of The Cluster who followed his orders to the letter, never straying from that path. Tammy lead him, trying to start small talk here and their, but he often answered breifly and to the point as to end conversations quickly. She gave up soon after. For now. The exact location that they stated at was unknown, it was in another realm of its own. This way, their group could have a base of operations with out being messed with. This realm and the castle they stayed in was called Rizelle. It was named after a man that had become a legend.

Korz once knew this story. In his past life, he had once been very knowledgebale in old tall tales, legends and such. But that was back then. Back when he was a man of faith, the same faith that had made him one day broke him. To summarize the story it went like this: "A man who had grown tired of having his and other people's lives pre-determined by deity's. This man was named Rizelle-a former knight. He rode and searched acrossed the land for a item-an item said to have the power capable of destroying a god. The said item was located ontop of a moutain. He grew more determined then ever to do this, a small bit of revenge for what the gods had done to him. What a cruel joke it turned out to be, once he found the item. Instead of giving him the power, it cursed him. Wrapping his body, making it hideous, his soul felt as if it were being torn into as did his body. Beaten and battered, Rizelle was sent to another plane of existence, never to be seen again."

Yes. Most knew that old tale, atleast those with in The Cluster's circle. It was a highly secrective group, who's main purpose was to overthrow the Gods, the same ones every one had a tie to in The Cluster. Tammy seemed to be an exception to this rule though. She was the only one that seemed to have no painful most, well one that involved a deity anyway. Tammy had suddenly just arrived one day, helping out. At first, they were going to throw her out but she seemed guine enough, Marbus The Wise thought so, and that alone was enough. His word was final, seeing as he was the main head of the group and had started it, supposedly. It was debated if Marbus or yet another someone was really the one who started it all. No matter what the truth was though, nobody could deny Marbus was an excellent leader.

Most people would find the structure of the castle slash base of operations pretty impressive, not to Korz. He did give it credit for having lots of room, therefore, giving him enough room to hide and get away from people. Making friends and getting attached wasn't really his thing anymore, he'd given that up literally centuries ago. The only people that were truly close to his heart were Tammy and Marbus The Wise himself which he considered like the father he never had, his own father being nothing more then a waste of flesh and soul. Souless wouldn't admit it openly, but he was rather curious on why they had been summoned. The little meetings they had with their leader were usually on the interesting side. If he had to make an educated guess, it would have to do with something else. True, Tammy had said it had something to do with their young charge-but he knew another piece of the puzzle was going to present themselves. A gut feeling.

Slowly he allowed his mind to settleback down to the here and now as they entered the large chambers of Marbus. It was a huge room, with the center being a symbol sorrounded by a circle, a sword cut half way through a heart, their sign. In the far end of the room were a few throne-like chairs, but only one person was present at the moment. A man who seemed to be somewhere in his fifities or so was in view, in a dark cloak much like Tammy, he to was unhooded. Silver locks, tinged with gray covered his face, and he was in remarkbale shape for his age, actually being many times older then he looked. This man was Marbus The Wise. Onlookers would dimiss the man at being some old has been or wash up, but that was far from the truth.

Marbus was powerful as he was wise, a very deadly combonation. His mortal weak-looking shell of an old man deceived those observing him, hiding the raw power beneath the surface of his soul, barely contained and ready to be used at a moments notice. Nobody knew what race he was, some thought he was a god himself or a being close to that kind of power. Regardless, Marbus was a kind considerate man to his friends and allies, and a horrible omen to any of his foes. Korz had once seen the man in action, he slayed countless demons and creations of Gods with his bare hands. The same man that had counseled him and nursed him back to health, he had great respect for the man-and even had a since of awe at his mere presence.

Overwhelemed as he often became, Korz bowed and Tammy looked at him from the corner of her eye before doing the same.

"No need. Its just us. Now, rise." They did so as the man of legend calmly walked over to him. On the hard marble, it was nearly impossible to not make any noise, yet here Marbus was, walking casually as if their was nothing to it.

"Yes honored one." Korz rose speaking, and Tammy did the same but said nothing for now. "Why have you summoned us here?"

"It has to do with your charge.." He trailed off, waving his hand gently as a giant floating orb appeared before them. "Look through it and tell me what you see."

[Sion Reaver]

Having an idea already what it was, Korz went to look through the orb as his curiousity increased a great deal. Looking through the orb was like watching a movie, a live movie of peoples lives. This time he could see the sleeping form of a child around six months of age, her odd hair color making her stick out of place, but it was also part of her charm. Innonence. That was the first word that came into mind, but then he shrugged the notion off, this was Azarath she was anything but innoncent or even a child for that matter.

Korz nodded slowly, pulling away. "I see Azarath Destroyer of Worlds-hidden beneath the guise of a child."

"And I see a child." Tammy said somewhat sourly not looking to happy.

"Correct, she is Azarath their is no child." Marbus eyes were a clear grey color and they looked at both of his pupils, focusing on them and drawing the close. "This is are chance we have all been waiting for. With her." He gestured toward the orb. "All of our planning, scheming, petty attacks will finally mean something. We finally have the being we sought after so long but were fournate. We can mold her personality so she won't be the thing she once was. And with her, the Gods will finally tremble like the cowards they are when it comes to anyone that can pose a threat to them. The first phase is done. I need not to remind you not to interfer in the girls life. The events that are about to happen are neccary for her development."

"What events? Playing a game?" Tammy said in a very low dangerous tone.

Turning his head, her partner frowned at her. "Master Marbus intentions have been nothing less then noble. He saved me when he could have just left me to die. He saved you to remember?"

Marbus The Wise silenced him with a hand. "Enough. Let her think what she wants. If everyone were to think the same, or I forced them to I would be no better then the beings we wish to destroy." He turned around. "I trust you know the consequences of interferring with the charges life? I have a uneventful meeting to attend to, you can do what you want in the mean time." His body began to get more and more transparent as he walked away before it disspeared, vansishing on the spot.

Korz was already walking away when his female friend suddenly grabbed his arm. "I think your devotion to Marbus is blinding you that and your desire for revenge. What would Carla and Audrena think I-"

For the first time, he seemed to be angry his eyes showing the most life they ever did as he reeled around to face her and snarled. "Don't. Ever. Mention those names again. Marbus and his group is noble, if you can't see it perhaps its time you quit the organization." He said cooly, removing his arm. "Azarath is a monster. I see no child. See how other people will treat her as she grows older, they to feel it. If you need me I will be out training." Korz the Souless then walked away leaving Tammy alone with her thoughts.

She sighed watching his form disspear. "Some of the worse things have been done with the most noble of intentions." The young woman looked skywards before disspearing in a blue mist.

(End Chapter Two)

[Sion Reaver]

Chapter Three: Blood and Rain

Peace. It was such a simple word, a word most people took for granted seeing as they had it all their lives until they died peacefully in bed. The word most people didn't really take much notice because all of their lives, they had never been endangered or had their loved ones in trouble. In modern times, its much easier to survive and take it for granted. The world had truly changed in some ways, were families had to work and farm for a living, not really having real time to relax. They would have to defend themselves agaisnt wild animals or possibly bandits, peace was a luxury people couldn't afford often then.

It was because of his current situation Greg could truly apperciate what the word truly meant.

Shortly after the strange episode with the two unknown individuals, he had taken their advice and moved as quick as he could. He was thankful to, because not to long after they had left, he'd heard Hammer or Snake as he liked to be called sent some thugs in. It was pretty obvious they weren't their to greet them, no it was fournate that he had left. If he hadn't taken the man's advice, he and his family would likely be six feet under the ground, blessings came in all strange and odd packages he supposed. They had moved in a small town that was truly off the map, a remote area were even their enemies wouldn't find them so easily. His parents only had a very vague idea of were he was at, and it was better that way.

Only trouble would follow if his parents knew, his enemies would most likely use them to get to him and he couldn't allow that to occur. The police weren't exactly much help in this case. Snake was truly a shady figure but he was very smart, and they couldn't really do anything to him because he never directly threatened. Nor did anything point to him that he was the one responsible for people chasing his family-the man covered his tracks well. In fact, Greg couldn't even remember the last time he had heard of him, much less seen him. This meant the life or death of his family hung in the balance and his choices would save or destroy them. Not exactly the best feeling in the world to have, but it needed to be done.

Greg had concluded if it weren't for his wife and their daughter, he'd likely had gone insane a long time ago. Jennifer had been beyond patient with him, making sure he was doing all right, checking up on everything. This whole journey must have been mentally exhausting, always calculating the next move, worrying if today would finally be their last day living, the day they made some minor mistake which caught up with them. He could hope that they had given up the hunt but he knew better, snakes liked to play with their food before eating it. In his heart of hearts, he knew it was just a slow count down to his and most likely his families death. Every minute was a gift he couldn't take for granted, he would make most of the time they had left together.

At this point in time, he was busy looking out the window of their small humble house they had gotten at a very decent price. It once belonged to a old married couple but they had sold it to them for cheap before they moved away. Another one of his small blessing's he supposed, but how long could one run on luck before it ran dry and they were on their own? Luck seemed to have come to them alot lately, but he couldn't rely on it, not with everything at stake. Greg had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach a sense of dread that paraylzed him before he got a hold of him. "Relax. Everything has been quite for a while. If we just keep our head on our shoulders, we'll be fine. I need to stop acting like a scared rabbit."

"Thinking hard again?"

"A little." He felt his wife wrap his arms around him from behind resting her head on his shoulder, she was in a robe which meant she had taken a shower recently. It also meant Alice must have been alseep. While they loved their daughter, they needed alone time every once in a while. Alice for her part was a very good baby-she only cried if their was something wrong or if she was hungry which was another less thing they had to worry about. "Hey-" He started.

"Shh. Its all right I know. You don't have to say anything or apologize." She said closing her eyes and relaxing a little bit more.

Sometimes he could swear his wife had sort of mind-reading powers. Or maybe it was just the fact she almost knew him better then he knew himself. "I know..But still. I'm going to put an end to this somehow one day, I don't how or when but I will. How much food do we got left?"

At this, she sighed pulling away. "Not enough. One of us is going to have go in town to grocery shop. I'll stay. Promise me you'll be careful all right? I don't want to lose you or Alice."

"Don't worry I'll be fine." Greg already was getting a coat to wear off a rack by the door before he left, it was pratically pouring outside. He kissed her forhead before going to leave. "I'll be back with in an hour. Remember not to open the door unless its me, or the police. They said they were coming today. See you later." Before she could say anything, he was gone and out the door closing it behind him.

Jennifer couldn't help but worry as her husband left, she always did now. She wouldn't be surprised if she had a few grey hairs with all of this! It was her choice though and she would have made the same one, knowing what she did now. Greg had said that things would blow over eventually, but they hadn't. It only had decreased a great deal, but the threat to their family was still out in the world-waiting for them to make their first and last mistake. Her nerves were pretty bad at the moment, so she did what she always did, take comfort in Alice.

The young mother found the child sleeping in her crib queitly, unaware of the dangers around them. It was better that way. The world was full of uglyness and hardship she would know this soon enough, but for now could hide behind her innoncence. Alice woke up a few moments after her mother entered the room, the child had a remarkabale sense of hearing. She had started crying after hearing a dog whistle once, and she was sure everything else was quite. Jennifer smiled a little as she picked up the child carefully, her big ruby eyes looking around the room once again. To her shame, those eyes once scared her but she found them quite beautiful now even if they weren't like anything she had seen.

"You don't have to worry about much of anything don't you?" She said smiling at Alice who was gnawing at a teething ring, though she really didn't have much of those at this stage of her life. "Sometimes I wish I could go back to being a child. Things were so much simpler then, and you got happy on almost anything." Even though Alice couldn't understand a word her mother was saying, the noise was interesting so she was content with looking at her before working on her toy again. "Your not paying attention to a word I'm saying?" She laughed shaking her head starting to walk out of the room.

"People may make judgements on you Alice, but don't let it get you down okay? As long as you know who you are, it doesn't matter what other people think of you." She knew Alice didn't understand, and she wouldn't for a long time. But somehow, she felt as her time with Alice was coming to a tragic short close and she only had a limited of time to give her advice about the world. Call it maternal instinc. It strangely didn't sadden her as much as she thought it would, maybe it was inevetiable that it happened. Atleast if her gut feeling were right and Alice lived, the pain of losing her parents wouldn't so bad because she couldn't really remember them.

A loud knock was heard at the door, but Jennifer didn't announce it was her that would give her away. Instead she followed what her heart told her to do and looked down at Alice for the longest time who for her part for once looked up to look straight at her mother. "No matter what happens to me and your father, just remember we always love you.." Jennifer went into another room, hiding Alice into another part of it.

[Sion Reaver]

Now this allowed her a bit more time to think. She grabbed a small knife, making sure it was hidden to the best of her ability as the knocking became a little bit louder with obvious impatience. Calmly the young woman moved a bit closer peaking out the small peep show. It was hard to really see out of it, but from what she can tell they were two police officers in uniform. Even so, she was still cautious. "Let me see your badges." She ordered firmly, not opening the door still. They seemed a bit annoyed, but they never the less showed some very geuine-looking badges.

She hesistated for a moment, before unlocking all of the locks and opening the door. "Its about time you arrived." She said as they arrived and started walking through the entrance. One man was big and bulky, and the other one was meduim-built. "Ar-" Her sentence was cut off as the bulky one suddenly grabbed her by the throat with one hand, literally lifting her up before slamming her on the wall.

"Fell for it. I shoulda just barged in if I knew'd it be that easy." The bulky one said, as Jennifer struggled for air.

"Lay off man." His skinner partner said. "Remember, Snake said we gotta make an example out of em'. So we shouldn't kill her until that other guy gets here."

"All right." He let her go as she dropped on the ground gasping for air. "Should be more fun that way anyway."

"You." The lanky one said pulling out a gun on her. "Get in the corner and don't move." Having no real choice at the moment, she complied with his commands hoping Alice would keep quite like she did normally.

As she moved to the corner, she couldn't help but realize she wasn't really scared. In the past she would have but now the only thing that really mattered was making sure Alice didn't give herself away. Luck had been on their side for so long up until now, she'd only hope their was little bit left over for her child. It seemed like forever she stood sitting, waiting and dreading for her husband to come home. She could feel her heart beat in her chest from fear, but for herself but for her husband.

With a creak, the door slowly opened as Greg closed it behind him. "Hey, it turns out that they di-" Since he was carrying bags, he couldn't defend himself as a large fist slammed into his face making him fall. The bags dropping on the ground hard, a milk jug breaking and spilling on the floor due to the impact. Daze and disoriented, he hadn't had the slightest clue what was going on before the thug pummeled him. Roughly, Greg was pulled to his feet after being beat senseless before being pushed into his wife.

"Now its time we ended this little game. Snake don't like being cheated see, if word gets out he'll lose some respect. Espically since it was done by some lowly private business owner. Ain't nothing personal, but its my job and I do get payed alot for something I enjoy doing so it all works out." He took aim at Jennifer, motioning for his partner to do the same to Greg. "Any last words?"

"Snake knew what could happen..Its his own fault, I didn't do anything wrong." Even though he by now had a black eye and the other one was half-closed, he still glared at them. "And tell him you, him and the rest of his group will rot in hell for this."

His attacker laughed, undoing the safety of the gun with an audible click. "People don't rot their, they burn. Besides, I vacation their. Good bye Summers." Then he pulled the trigger.

Bang.

Both of them slumped to the floor lifelessly, their eyes focusing ahead of them seeing but unseeing anything. The milk at this point had flooded a little bit more, starting to mix with the pool of blood from the two victims. Then their was the sound of crying of a baby soon afterwards. It wasn't normal crying, it seemed sad. Almost as if feeling her parents death, Alice began to cry loudly.

"What? I didn't think they had a brat to. Ah well makes things easier." He traced the sound easily enough, figuring it would be an easy kill before he went home. His partner followed him, more out of curiousity then anything else. The murderers opened up a door, well actually breaking it down since it was locked before entering the same room Alice was in.

"Should have been quite kid." He took aim with his small custom pistol after locating her, but was stopped. His form suddenly was thrown through a wall like a rag doll, he crashed head first into something and slumped dead.

"What the fu-" The attacker was a beautiful young woman with blue hair dressed in dark clothing. The man didn't get to finish his sentence his sentence as the woman brought her knee hard into his private place, hearing a loud cracking sound. He roared, or more liked cried in pain. She put him out of his misery but snapping his neck in one quick motion, to quick to be human.

Tammy watched his form drop dead coldly before gently picking up the crying Alice. "Its okay little one." Her crying didn't stop but had lessened to volume until it was more like small whimpers more then anything else. Her head turned right, hearing something outside. "I'll be back soon." She set down Alice down for a moment and then headed outside. Outside was a police car, but she could tell something was off.

It stopped a few feet away from her as one of them got out, and with out even saying "Put your hands up" began to open fire with a automatic weapon that wasn't part of the normal police. To their shock and horror, this strange woman seemed vanish for a moment. She appeared on the side of the one who had been firing. A single bullet was in her hand as she twirled it on her finger tips.

"Your a little slow." Then, she literally flicked the bullet at the gunmen with speed going faster then what it was shot at. He grabbed his neck gurgling before falling over dead in a matter of moments. Getting over their shock, the last of the fake-police roared their car to life as they rushed towards her, intending to ram into her and take her life.

Tammy just slowly turned her body to look at them sighing mentally, these people were so slow learners. Right when it was about to hit her, she hit it down with her fist causing the car to flip over about twenty feet in the air out of control. The panic and shock of the driver was obvious in their last moments, as they tried to get out to no avail. The car exploded on re-contact with the ground. Hearing the sounds of sirens, she knew it was the real police coming at last finally. Her job here was done, but she was going to have a "Talk" with Marbus The Wise about this. Her form disspeared turning into blue mist, leaving the scene.

Police piled around the area as they quickly rushed inside the house, only to find someone had beaten them getting their. With a somber outlook, it looked like the whole family had been killed. It had been another one they had been to late for, the Police Cheif knew as much and who was behind it but had no evidence. It was frusterating seeing a man you couldn't touch but knew was guilty. He was about to call it a day when one of other officers called his attention, a young woman.

"Sir, we found a baby."

The Police Cheif, also known as Darrel looked up and blinked, seeing the baby in perfect health. How was that possible? Snake's men were ruthless, it didn't matter if it was a child or not. And they would have found her so what had happened? Two of Snakes men were dead, as well as some fake cops. Somethings simply couldn't be explained. "I'll be damned. If I didn't know any better, I'd think the baby had a guardian angel watching over them." In a way he was right, but it was a thing neither him or most people would ever really know.

What an interesting development. The child and this case had went on the top of his to do list.

[Sion Reaver]

Chapter Four: Once Upon A Time

It had been about five years since the tragic events that claimed the lives of the Summer's family, save one. Shortly after the death of Greg and Jennifer Summers, parents on Greg's side died on a boating accident. Jennifer had no living relatives anymore, which made Alice the very sole survivor. Some would say she was blessed, others would say she was cursed. Since she had no relatives to take care of her, Alice had to be put into foster care in hopes of one day being adopted. Officer Darrel the one helped her would have taken the poor child in, but he couldn't. It was hard enough getting by with just supporting his birth children, adding another mouth to feed wouldn't really help any one, so she was placed in foster care.

The story of why some of Snake's men were dead had become a legend, as well as the fake police. Many people had their own two scents to add on what they thought happened. The most common and logical was that they turned on one another, but that didn't explain everything. If so, how did a car get thrown into the air? From their earleir investigation, experts had said the tire marks stopped in a certain area. It was impossible not to leave tire marks on the type of terrain that was by the house, so they concluded though it was a bit far fetched, but someone or something had flipped the car like a domino. As how the other men died, it was anyone's guessing game but they closed the case.

Speaking of odd happenings, Snake was found dead a month later on his own turf which was very heavily guarded. Darrel had thought it strange espically since when they went to check it out, their seemed be no bodies of the group who attacked, just Snake and his group. No matter how skilled they were, one of the attacking forces had to have been killed with the kind of fire power they faced. Yet, they couldn't find a single body that didn't belong to the crime lords orginization. This to, had become a tall tale almost. Nobody knew what happened on this one either, but once more everyone had their own take on the matter. Just another unexplainable event destined to fall into the background as another myth. Many claim a strange blue-haired woman single handedly did all of this, but it was likely something else.

Darrel in the meantime was off duty in a small van, Alice in the back. Just because he couldn't take her in himself, didn't mean he couldn't help and look after her when he could. At this moment in time he was simply dropping her off to the next family she was to stay with. They were the Richards, a small family of three. It consisted of a young woman who was widowed, along her son around Alice's age. The father was actually the newest member of the family, since he and her had only recently gotten married and it hadn't been to long. The family lived well, he knew after seeing the things they had. Not to mention they did seem nice enough, Alice should do fine their. He hoped so anyway. Darrel had heard she been treated quite poorly in the past, maybe this would be both their lucky break. Darrel decided to start a conversation about the house she would be staying in, having seen it earleir.

"What do you think of their house? Its nice and big huh?" He tried to start some conversation with the girl, she was so..quite. Completely unlike the little chatter-box he had once known. It must of had to do with her treatment in various homes, Alice rarely smiled or talked anymore.

"Its nice.." The small child replied to him but didn't turn to look at him, instead her small head was peering out the window as if the passing cars were the most fascinating thing in the whole world. She kept to herself for the most part almost like a built-in self-defense system inplanted in her head to protect her from getting hurt emotionally.

It was hard to get the girl to speak anymore, much less open up.

"The house is just nice? Don't you think its pretty?" He pressed, hoping a bit more then a small sentence.

"..I hate that house." Alice finally turned towards him after she admitted what was really on her mind. The small sentence didn't properly describe what she was feeling it was irrational part of her brain telling her the new place would be bad news. It was a gut feeling she had, much like her deceased mother-she almost had a six sense so to speak. Besides, every other place she had been to they had treated her diffrent. Either with indiffrence as if she wasn't there or out right treated her badly, nothing she did was ever good enough for them they would always treat her bad. Alice could hear the normal teasing of her past expereinces. Freak. "Your creepy. Stay away from me."

She could hear their voices and accusing looks even now. All she really wanted to do was curl into a ball somewhere and die, then maybe people would finally leave her alone. Nobody really cared, except maybe Darrel..but he had other things to worry about then her. He wouldn't always be their to watch after her, she was alone with only herself and nobody else. Alice hadn't realized when they finally reached a large house that was more like a mansion, she had gotten more depressed.

Apparently, the officer noticed because he grew a bit concerned. "Hey.." He started his tone soft as the car finally stopped. "I know its been really hard but don't let it get it down on you to much okay? Try to them give them a chance atleast before you write them off."

"Ok." Alice's voice was small and soft, and her statement didn't sound as if she would agree or not to his proposal. Once Darrel got out, he helped Alice out of the van with her very small bag of belongings. A simple brown bag with some basic clothes among a few other things. The house was a truly beautiful one, it must have cost an arm and a leg And a heart to afford it. It was a good time as any to drop Alice off, so he ringed the door bell and waited.

For two minutes the door didn't open. It seemed they weren't home. So with that in mind he and Alice were about to walk away and leave to come back another day when the door finally opened. In front of it was a woman somewhere in her twenties, she had a expensive-looking black dress on, a sign she was probably heading somewhere or it was a result of some formal occassion. She had dark red hair that was moderatly long, she was quite pretty with enough curves to keep her form looking appealing. A young boy around Alice's age stood in the back to see what the fuss was about. He like his soon-to-be sister was adorable in his own way. His hair was a messy black color that went every which way, he had on some small jeans along with a shirt with a "Super-Man" symbol in the middle.

"You came back early." The woman stated simply looking at Darrel then to Alice. She moved a little to the side opening the door a bit more. "Come on in. We're just making dinner."

Alice hesistated for a moment to go inside until her older friend gave some words of encouragement. He handed the woman Alice's bag before turning to leave. "It has her basic things she needs. So she'll be fine for a while. I'll be back to check back every once in a while." After he left and Alice was in the house, she seemed a bit more with drawn then what she was even on the ride.

"I'm Erica, this is my son Keith." The woman looked down at her. "Whats your name?"

"Alice.." She kept her head bowed not making much eye-contact. If she kept to herself and didn't bother them, then they might not treat her bad like the others.

The first thing they had always commented on was her strange eye-color and the fact that they glowed softly, something nobody knew why or could explain how such a trait could exist. One of her foster parents had been a doctor, and the eye thing had intrigued him. He seemed to have looked at her more as a live study then an actual person.

"Look up. I want to see your eyes."

Hesistating once more at the older woman's command she did so anyway as they both made eye-contact with one another. For a long moment she looked at Alice with her son Keith stayed quite in the background for now. Satisfied, she nodded breaking away. "I've never seen eyes like yours before..their unique. Keith, go show Alice to your room. You'll be sharing it for now."

Her son looked at her surprised. "But thats my room. I don't wanna share with Alice. I don't like her."

As soon as those words left Keith's lips, Erica grabbed him by the ear. "I raised you better then that. She's only going to be staying with us for a short time anyway, I suggest you apologize and show her your room. Would that be something Super-Man would do?"

Super-Man was someone Keith worshipped, he had many things having to do with him. Anything from comics, books, figurerines. You named it and he probably had it or was going to get it soon. Erica often used this to help keep Keith in line when he acted up.

"No." He said crest fallen with a sigh after his mom let him go. "Follow me." Keith muttered to Alice as he began to walk up the stairs with a quite Alice close in tow.

It looked like their were still doing things to the house still, even if many rooms among other things. This didn't surprise or impress Alice, her mind was to busy wondering what her time here would be like. How the house looked was minor to her, but it was still an interesting place none the less.

[Sion Reaver]

Keith opened the door to his room, and as expected their were many things having to do with Super-Man, including a life size poster on the wall. The color of the walls were a bright sky blue painted with small clouds here and their. Two beds occupied the room, one on the right and one on the left. Also as expected, the room was a bit on the messy side, but that was to be expected with a boy of his age. He sat on his bed and kept glaring holes in the back of Alice's head when she wasn't watching.

"Okay. Rules. You stay on Your bed. I don't want cooties on mine, and two don't touch any of my stuff. Three don't talk to me unless you have to." He said looking at her from his bed.

"Ok." She said in the same quite tone going to lay on her bed and resting her head on the pillow. It was nice, more comfortable then what she was used to sleeping on that was for sure. Alice layed on their for only a few minutes before falling into a light sleep. She had no dreams anymore, only nightmares.

A few hours later, both Alice and Keith had fallen asleep but were woken up by a soft knock on the door. "Come down stairs, dad's home and dinner is ready." Retreating foot steps were heard Erica left going back down stairs.

Sharp sense of hearing was something the little girl always had, it was both a good and bad thing depending on the situation. It was harder to get sleep because of it, on the other hand it warned her if anything dangerous was going on around her. Alice sat on the edge of her bed, she streached her small body lightly forming a small O. Keith had woken up as well from snoring, but he woke up due to rolling out of the bed and falling onto the floor. Strangely, he seemed to be used to it as he had gotten up in a calm matter getting up.

"What did my mom say?" He spoke with out looking at her.

"Time to eat and your dad being home..."

Keith seemed to have went into a bad mood after hearing the words "dad". It wasn't his real dad, his birth father had died earleir. He was his step-dad a man his mother married a year or so ago. His name was Frank and he was pretty rich, seeing as he was a famous lawyer and made quite a bit of money. But he didn't like Frank and how he treated him and his mother. Keith didn't care about money but his mom seemed to, sometimes more then him. It actually seemed that was her whole reason for getting married in the first place, so she could be a trophy wife. The young boy only knew he didn't like him and wanted him to leave.

The two children trudged their still half-sleep bodies down stairs towards the large kitichen area. The smell of food woke Keith up a bit more but he obviously still wasn't happy. Alice on the other hand seemed to be pretty indiffrent more then anything else. In the kitichen was a man in a business suite busy talking to Erica about something, he ignored the two for now as he ate before noticing Alice for the first time.

"So your the new kid huh? I'm Frank, you got a name?" Frank was a very handsome man in his twenties, with black hair that fit perfectly into place along with black eyes that matched his hair-color exactly. Despite his good looks, their was something a bit dark about him. Alice could feel dark twisted emotions under the surface of his calm exterior. It was barely contained by some charade he kept up while in public. When he was at home, that was when the real Frank would reveal his true self, he'd stop playing the game.

She didn't like it.

Even so, she was smart enough not to try to upset him personally. "Alice." She wasn't sure how she should act around him. From the emotions she felt, it was likely it didn't take whole heck of alot to set Frank off. In her life of moving to one home to the next, she more or less knew how to stay out of peoples way for her sake and theirs. If you weren't in the way or in sight, then they tended to foget about her and leave her alone eventually. But he was diffrent. It might take a alternative way as not rouse his anger, she'd have to figure it out.

"Thats a simple name." He frowned looking at her, wondering why the new kid bugged him so much. It wasn't just her odd eye thing but something about Alice rubbed off Frank the wrong way, much like Keith had rubbed off him the wrong way. Then he snorted. "What ever. Its none of my business." She was grateful when he went back to eating instead of interigating her.

"How was work?" Erica asked sitting down across from Frank as Keith simply stabbed his food with a fork.

"Work was work. I got alot of new clients and cases, and alot of people want get off my nuts about somethings." Frank said before looking at the quite Keith. "Let me guess, your not doing well in school. Better bring up those grades boy. I work way to damned hard for you to be a dunce, but if thats what you want to be fine. Were's desert?"

Keith ignored him and continued poking at his food. Alice was hungry but much to nervous to really eat so she only took baby bites. Erica silently went to go to the refrigerator to get something sweet for Frank to eat like a wind-up doll. If Frank had a need, she would bend over backwards and break her back in the process as long as his needs were satisfied. If he said leap, she'd say "How High?". That was how their relationship worked, and that is why Frank put up with her son who he deemed "A dumb brat". Erica was good-looking and was their for his every whim, he was the king of his castle what more could he ask for?

The semi-peaceful dinner was shattered when Erica came back. She carried a small cake of some unknown flavor and set it down in front of Frank. Erica's son had tensed up for some reason at this, and Alice grew curious but soon know why. Frank frowned looking at the cake before cutting himself a piece neatly and putting it onto his plate, taking a nice bit out of it with a fork. He spit it out moments later onto the floor, and then moved the cake so it dropped on the floor. A cake both her and Keith had taken alot of time to make was carelessly disregarded, thrown away like trash. Keith didn't care. Erica was still crushed though.

"Clean this mess up." He grunted out. And like a obedient pet, she began cleaning with out even getting angry or anything. Frank got up and looked at Keith who was glaring at him. "If you got a problem with me, come over here. Better yet, I'll come to you! I work and break my back everyday, I don't need no disrespect from some snout-nosed little punk!"

Alice grew more nervous, espically when violence was likely going to occur, which it did. Frank made no empty threat as literally went over and suckered punch a five year old in the face. The blow sent Keith to the floor, and he was obvious in alot of pain but didn't cry as most would have thought. "Were's your little hero now?"

He pulled his hand back about hit him again when Erica suddenly grabbed his arm. "Stop you proved your point."

In response, he simply slapped her with a large audible clap sound as she fell onto the floor, a hand inprint staining her cheek. He snarled at her. "This is my house. Its my castle, my domain. I'm the king of this castle and what I say and do goes. A woman and their child have their place, and if they forget what it is then I'll have to show them." It looked like he was about to do something when his cell phone suddenly ringed with an important call. "Consider yourselfs lucky." He stormed away and glared at Alice. "What are you looking at?"

Alice quickly shrank away from his gaze, glad he had gone away. Meanwhile Erica was nursing her son who was now sporting a black eye. She had a small towel and was dapping it gently, knowing it stung but he didn't really cry out or anything. A tough kid for his age.

"You know better then to do that. If you hadn't glared at him he wouldn't have to get angry." Erica said to Keith as if he had did something wrong. She seemed more upset at her own son then the man who had struck both of them. "Now what am I going to tell school when they see this black eye? Go upstairs and go to bed. Your making stress for mommy. You don't wan't her to lose this big house and all of this money to buy us nice things do you?"

"No.." Keith muttered under his breath. He didn't care about the money, the house or Frank. He just wanted to spend time with his mother, but he didn't say that.

She sighed rubbing her temples. "You make mommy tired Keith. Its getting late, you and Alice need to go to bed."

"Come on.." Keith began heading upstairs slowly with Alice following close behind him. His black eye hurted him alot more then he let out but he didn't want Frank to see him cry or anything so he hadn't given in completely into the pain. The young boy went into his bed and covered his head under the covers with out a word as not to be bothered. Alice didn't mind. She simply went over to hed bed and tried to sleep but couldn't. Frank was scary to her, she couldn't imagine staying with him, much less living with him. Keith didn't seem to be scared of him though, she wish she could be that brave.

[Sion Reaver]

But it was hard trying to be brave. Maybe Keith really was scared of him but didn't show it and did those things anyway, maybe that was what real bravery was about. It wasn't about not being scared, but just going on with what ever it was you had to do. Alice had heard that somewhere before but for the life of her couldn't recall were or when she had heard it. Alice couldn't sleep and stayed up, to many nightmares. A faint crying sound came from were Keith was and she knew it was him he must have thought she was sleep. A strong amount of sadness was felt from him, but she didn't know why.

Wanting to make him feel a bit better, she took a chance. "Why are you sad?"

Hearing her voice obviously startled him because his form grew stiff under the covers since he was sitting up right. "My dad. He's not here anymore." He said after a while, he then almost shyly poked his head from under neath the covers so only his head would show, looking at her.

"My dad and mom aren't here anymore either." Alice said queitly. "..Does your eye hurt?"

So she had lost not only her dad but her mom to? Keith couldn't imagine losing both his parents, his fathers death crushed him. His dad was so strong, and like many boys he thought his dad invincible. His father had died during a plane crash because of an engine problem, if only Super-Man was real he could have saved him. That was part of the reason he grew almost an obession with the franchise, Keith wanted to be like Super-Man. "Yeah, why?"

A long pause echoed through the room before she said anything. "..I can heal it if you want me to."

He blinked confusedly at her. "Uh okay."

Alice wordlessly rose from her bed before raising a single hand towards Keith's eye gently, her hands glowing a soft quite pink as the pain and evidence of the black eye he had received from Frank went away.

Keith touched his eye and was surprised the pain was gone. "What did you do? That was so cool! I wish I could do that."

"I-I don't know. Its just something I can do." She looked down. "You wouldn't want to be like me, people treat me bad."

He winced a little as if remembering something feeling ashamed. "..I'm sorry I said I didn't like you earleir. I still think its cool, maybe you'll be a super hero when you grow up..Like Super-Man.."

Alice titled her head at him confused. "Who's Super-Man?"

It was almost like someone had said they didn't know what the sky was. So Keith began to happily explain to her who Super-Man is. He was really strong and protected people. Super-Man was also very brave and kind, but he came from another planet far away from here. Alice grew queitly absorbed into it so she never once interrupted him as he went on and on, she seemed be quite fascinated as well. The two began to talk for a long time until they grew tired and could barely keep their eye-lids opened.

"Hey, could you not tell anyone what I did? I don't want anyone to hate me.."

Keith looked back up to were Alice was sleeping her bed and smiled. "Promise. It would break the code if I told a person had powers."

She found herself smiling for the first real smile in a truly long time, Keith was the first person who hadn't gotten scared of her. "Thank you." Alice layed down onto her pillow and pulled the covers over her, curling into a small ball. For the first time since she could remember, Alice Summers slept straight through with any nightmares at all. Maybe staying here wouldn't be so bad after all, she thought before falling alseep.